W6RCL / ALAN KAUL

The sounds of 20-Meters on Sunday morning--just 8-hours to go in the CQWW DX Contest. Propagation wasn't very good and the noise level was excessive, but I had fun anyway. Not exactly my best effort -- but I did manage to work hams on every continent .... 444 Q's, 312k points.

1997 CQWW DX SSB Contest (cont): While the contest runs for 48-hours on the last full weekend in October, I've never had 2-full days to devote to it. This year I spent about 14-hours in the garage hamshack, and frequently wondered why some stations 8-thousand miles away could hear me so clearly and others (many even closer!) could not. I had hoped for better propagation, but rather than curse the sunspots -- let me say I had a wonderful time and was quite pleased to note than 10-Meters is coming back.

My station is moderate by ''contesting standards.'' I have a full sized vertical antenna for 40M and loading coils for 80M and 160M (HF2V). On 20-15-and-10, I have a small triband Yagi (Cushcraft A-3) at about 40-feet. The transceiver is an Icom-725, feeding a 25-year-old (or older!) Heathkit SB-220 kilowatt.

I often operate without the amplifier and for many of the CW contests, I only use QRP (less than 5W) rigs on 40 (Norcal 40) and 20 Meters (SST). I especially enjoy entering the ARRL Sweepstakes and ARRL Field Day Contests in the QRP category. I also own a couple of other QRP rigs --- the Radio Shack HTX-100 (5w or 25w on 10M), the NE40-30 (by NN1G----a $40 rig for 30-Meters), the 38S designed by my good friend Ori Mizrahi-Shalom of San Jose and the Norcal Club.

W6RCL Contest Summary CQWWDX-SSB 1997:

160M: 3/3/3----80M: 22/12/13----40M: 51/16/21---- 20M:145/26/55----15M: 139/21/49----10M: 84/15/32

QSO'S= 444 /Zones= 93 / Countries= 173 / Points=312,284

Click here to LINK to my latest contest log (in ARRL ascii format) for the '98 ARRL International DX Contest:

  • 1998 ARRL CW

    Celebrating 39-years being a "ham!"
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    The world becomes friendly when people from different places meet and discuss ideas via Amateur Radio.

    • I got interested in Amateur Radio while a freshman at North Central High School. There were a few other teen-agers who lived in the neighborhood who had become licensed "hams." Leon, W7CEZ, Paul, W7CFD, and Dennis, W7EMN, were quite active and "inspired" me to learn more. When Shadle Park High School opened in 1957 and many of us transferred there (it was much closer to home), a few of us formed the Shadle Park HS Radio Club. Only two had licenses when we began (Dave, W7JBO and Mike, K7BTR) but several of us were not far behind. Gary, KN7EAM, got his license first, I was next with KN7EHW, followed by Bob, KN7ELG, then Craig, KN7EXJ, Rick, KN7GDN, Warne, KN7GUF, Jim KN7GUG, and a few more whose names I can remember (Jerry Steele, Mike Miller, H. T. Clark (teacher), but whose calls I cannot. Sorry fellas, I thought I would never forget!

    I had a lot of help and finally passed the Novice Class exam (administered by a longtime Spokane amateur Kent Buxton, W7PUL). I've never thanked him, publicly for helping me get on the road to what has been a lifetime adventure -- but I am saying it now, THANKS, Kent, for everything.

    Within a year, most of us at Shadle had upgraded from Novice to Conditional or General Class -- dropping the letter "N" from our call prefixes.

    I kept K7EHW as my call for some 15-years and when I moved to California, I applied for a change (Amateur licenses are issued by call areas---hence the number---7 for Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, 6 for California, etc. In 1973 I was issued my present call, W6RCL.

    JY9RL QSL card (Amman, Jordan 1985-1987)

    Over the years, I've held other calls in addition including: F0FVR (France), G0/W6RCL (UK), W6RCL/6Y5 (Jamaica), W6RCL/HH2 (Haiti) and JY9RL (Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan). I've also operated "portable" in many of the states, including Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and New York.

    /KH6 Maui/Kauai QSL card

    Remember that famous quote: Man cannot live by QRO alone!

  • Click here to visit my Amateur Radio QRP Page. w6rcl/qrp

    More to follow, as you might note -- this page is under construction.

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